nine thirty am in moscow these iraqi headlines greece holds its breath as a team of international debt inspectors assess whether the country has implemented enough for posterity measures this comes as head of a crucial vote in germany to decide if athens for the next eight billion euro bellone need to pay its debts and salaries in october. a car bomb blast in russia's north caucasus killed eight people including a young girl it's the latest in a string of attacks targeting security officers with innocent civilians again caught in the crossfire. russia has warned nato not to take sides as tensions

run high along the kosovo serbia border inflamed by the alliance a true crackdown on serbian barricades. up next spotlight shines on the leading light of russia's film industry who is not overly optimistic about its future i'll go and talk with alexander sokurov who directed the movie foulest which won the venice film festivals top prize the golden riot stay with us for the. oh i am. oh yeah to walk into spotlight the interview show on alex in california although today my guest is aleksandr the folks who are joining us from st peter's. this year's event is still festival has been a great success for. the movie calls fast directed last quarter was awarded the

gold blog the pastorals growth could critics say that's a sign of the industry's revival but the hero the self is not so optimistic this is a tour of grace the logistics of filmmaking in russia still leaves much to be desired and lastly the world is our guest. outside the soccer world for this year's biggest picture at the venice film festival alexander secure of have to overcome much misunderstanding in his early career the students from sri mostly not accepted by his teachers at the state film school in moscow and his early works were banned by soviet censors what helped secure of move on then was support from one of the greatest filmmakers of all time under a turk ski the end of the nineteen eighties and gorbachev zero team aziru leafless the core of whose films were finally released to receive acclaim both at home and

abroad the film maker could finally quench his thirst to work and make an several films a year both speeches and documentaries securities impressionistic works marked by a philosophical approach to history and human nature one the hearts of intellectuals world wide one of the filmmakers trademarks is the appearance of ordinary people in his fiction films succumb. this famous for experimenting with film language he's russian ark became a sensation in two thousand and two as it was made in this single ninety six minute long shot in the one nine hundred ninety six worked on his famous detroit chiefs boring the effects of the war on one's personality the first three films were biographies of some of the most powerful political leaders of the twentieth century and he wrote. it forced to move the control would you post growth

securities biggest cinema to graphical words the golden lion of the venice film festival. mr secure a friend thank you very much for joining us good afternoon and a warm welcome from st petersburg. first of all i would like to congratulate you on the golden lion award it's really chairman for the russian filmmaking industry as well as for you personally. but before we start discussing the award in new dance that surrounded i would like you to comment on the latest news of the russian filmmaking community or news channel after all so what's your take on this scandal around russia's big forty kenya wards i mean synods out by any kid in the whole cloth. after the official vote the chairman of russia's oscar committee refused

to sign the papers. how can that happen. what's your view on that but you. i don't have an opinion on this issue really i wasn't aware of it before a saw it in the newspapers i didn't know about russia's nominating a movie for an oscar either i read about it later also in the newspapers and heard about it on the radio. i think what's happened is all down to our human nature decisions are taken by humans it must have been a personal conflict about. growth anyway why do you think epic isn't fit to run for an oscar we are aware of styria types the americans have of russia we often know the artistic taste of the academy members. film may well be the right choice for an oscar but why should european style serious movies of humanitarian carol to compete

for what is basically a commercial prize. over all this story didn't really stir any emotions in me. that was the very this mr sekula of maybe this is the way it should be the director of living room in show off who was against the nomination of this film argued primarily that this film by mikhail cough was actually a port overlords the movie just one of the ports but mr socor off the film that earns you the golden lion he's also a part of your trial which includes small tourists and his son and leslie who falls do you know this fourth and last quarter receives the ward do you regard your fault as a means of pan and peace or a part of the. i mean that if the latter is true then the viewers who have not seen the previous parts will have to watch all of them first before seeing false. no it's a separate film each of the pause has its own value and leads a separate life but that's how it was the general idea behind the technology is

humanitarian. not quite cinema to graphic. where the roots of the method i employed i mean such fundamental studies could be traced back to literature. it's not typical of cinematography neither russia nor international it may as well be a unique case the first case of such an in-depth study. as a director i cannot imagine that it would be possible to produce small of tourists or the sun and keep them on the shelf during all these years waiting for files to come out. is a separate film but you can also view it as the last chapter of the technology that . well it's not the first time we talked to you in over the years so i have come to know you a bit. what i mean is that i know you don't like the high life it's hard to imagine your magazines covers or gossip columns but then all of

a sudden your the talk of the town the festival's hero the golden lion in your hands standing right there in the center of that celeb gathering what do you feel at the moment. well not much i'm afraid would be similar to what you have just cried because when our television channels broadcast the news. i was still in venice. then i travelled back to st petersburg and wasn't very much affected by the whole thing. the only reason something really happened was a string of phone calls with congratulations from my friends relatives acquaintances and colleagues who love. actually not the first of my words i have three vatican awards my movies regularly receive prizes although it's not usually reported. that's the conditions i work in.

here part of my job is to take calls and festivals to procedure i don't quite like either in order to help my movies made their first steps for me a festival is not a competition i have always been against competitions the contemporary movie making industry doesn't offer other options that would be as efficient money wise to presenting on movie to the international cinematography community as fast hauls. the budgets for my movies do not include funds for promotion or revenue ties ing not a single cent by the way we have a deficit budget for founts with only one copy printed so far. at the moment we don't really know how to show to russian viewers so i mean it's my job i mean it's like on the new year's eve i know that the next day on the first of january things will still be the same i know for sure. awards are only important because

they encourage my friends and colleagues who helped me make the movie and maybe they were happy about it then i mean everybody knows that you don't like film festivals you don't like the idea of a competition held among artists as if they were athletes but you can't deny that film festivals are essential for the development of the film industry and filmmakers so you're kind of left in between two cheers right you don't know whether you're against film festivals or for them right definitely what is better to polish them or to let them be. no film festivals held in the form of film show like the one in venice are absolutely necessary it can be otherwise. but it is wrong to hold film festivals as a competition. of them with any festival features both renowned and experienced directors who do have a name in the film industry and beginners. and we who have. long being part of the

cinema world are an obstacle for the newcomers the young artists all along for awards attention recognition and fame far more than we do it would take me i don't need any of these because i have grown out of this and when i really needed such things there were none today i realize that appreciation and attention as well as film distribution and television time i needed badly by young film directors and part of the audience needs all this as well we need a renewal of we should give young people a chance this is not only true for films with a film festival organizers a film show like the venice film festival and unlike hans or berlin that hold a film contest a kind of rivalry is the most reasonable and justified type of film festival the best of the film competitions they should be abolished i have contacts of the organizers of all the biggest film festivals and have been telling them for

a number of years that the system of film competition has no future but they won't be making money without a competition because it's basically the competitive part of the festival it attracts people attract so what it means fans and sponsors i'm not sure. this is the core of new films attract people this is what attracts people new films new english and the habs but not the competition itself it is the desire and the opportunity to see new films that drives thousands to the festivals including the press and television shows says alexander the court of award winning russian film director spotlight that surely. stay with us. very first verses of the bible all human beings are created with elemental clear.

in god's image and it doesn't say just jews or not his. success is seventy percent of what i did as a combat soldier territories listen to if it hurts doing what we call making our presence so we go out should some bozo they hear a knock on some doors or the other corner invade another house or religion and nationalism and not as good as them have been a part of the problem they've been part of what leads to. bloodshed if you want to bomb guys out and kill a thousand four hundred people in a month and you want to expect that this will have no effect and there are a few you have to be either extremely naive or extremist and the nazis didn't hear of your religious jew calling another jew a not and not the way they really are that amounted to nothing or in the name.

of this nature and discover its beauty. the communicate with the wind until the. test yourself and become free and. see what nature can give you on the. down low the official auntie allocation to your i phone on called touch from the i choose option. which all changed life on the go. video on demand parties mind rules costs and are as a speech now with the palm of your. question on the call.

welcome back to. our in jest a reminder that right guest on the show today is alexander the third quarter of the award winning russian film director i listen to mr sokurov after he won the golden lion award you said in one of your first interviews following be damned i quote the current form of existence of the russian filmmaking industries fundamentally wrong and should be changed immediately and closed what do you mean what is wrong in particular with the russian filmmaking industry. as i see the reporter has twisted my words a bit of the quote is not accurate or perhaps an editor has changed it i was referring exclusively to the way the fans are distributed in the modern film industry if the government finances film production as a nod as a type of culture i emphasize no type of commercial special attention should be

paid to the issue of fun distribution the way funds are distributed to days totally unacceptable those funds are basically pocketed by a few self dealing people in moscow establishment of a film funded not foster film production growth there has been only a couple of deadliest in the country and all last year's films the films that were produced after the reform after the responsibility for fun distribution was taken away from the ministry of culture so bad that no t.v. channel not even channel one that is known for favoring commercial films will ever show that the way funds are being distributed is nothing but embezzle meant plain and simple. you have been working in the west a lot so can you point out a country that could become a model for russia say the united states and germany or france. the german model is really good but excessively bureaucratized i remember german t.v. reporters asking me in venice why my film was not financed from german funds among

others which. i told them that the procedure is too complicated in germany you have to go from province to province collecting those contributions in tiny bits about. fifty thousand euros here twenty thousand years there the french model could feed the russian system best of all. the french have a transparent and democratic procedure for applying for government support followed by an equally transparent and democratic discussion of all strong and weak sides of the film project the director is seeking government funds for we used to have something very similar at the time when the russian ministry of culture managed on distribution then the system was changed. the old procedure did have certain drawbacks of course but anyway it has been abandoned. there is a possibility was transferred to a group of i don't know whose but it has been going on from bad to worse ever since we must introduce an absolute it was apparent form of fund handling because it is

absolutely necessary it is necessary wherever government funds are distributed all that is needed to accomplish this is integrity and decency integrity and decency that's all nothing else for them i think russia is no facing a severe lack of integrity and decency i think. you have been impeached in quite a heated dialogue with the authorities for some time now. remember that in august you urged prime minister putin to see viewers to use length film from privatization why can't land film be privatized he said because there were no decent people left who could manage it. and did mr react to your request in any way. my answer to that will be clear and simple the management model that would have evolved had been privatized would have led to a situation where russia

a vast country we the people clearly predisposed towards cinematography. in beautiful we might have no administrative talent but we have a great talent for cinematography and sciences we are great writers and great composers but the liquidation of landfill have led to monopolies that russia would only have to studios left. and the russian world studios. where would directors who did not fit into the aesthetic and humanitarian format of those studios. and artistic environment should present as many creative have and as many production opportunities as possible. that is what makes a good artistic environment the more studios we have. there small independent

artists would be able to realize their creative ideas. i would never be able to direct anything at most films there with the russian world studios would have never produced my fast. directors especially young directors need as many alternatives as they can have that most young directors would not be able to take off the russian world studios. we do need landfill. because we need a humanitarian studio. in saying your recent interviews make rajamouli with sam that you were just not getting a response in russia. you see that most of your films are not screened in russia and probably never will be. i don't have your exact words but that's the essence of it how do you explain the indifference the maturity of the russian public treats

you with is it the way film distribution works or does it have to do with viewers becoming less cultured in general. because i have to say first and foremost the cultural landscape in russia has been changing ever since social and political changes began in our society. i would say that the average cultural level in our society is the same as it was in nineteen twenty nine hundred thirty. compared to the soviet period it is a sign that society on the whole has degraded this is my opinion of. the kind of films i make and not just me there are other very notable directors in russia but films of this sort have always been watched by university students specialists and educated classes in general. russian cause students are in a very difficult situation these days. it is essentially an environment devoid of

humanitarian values but the number of specialists has greatly diminished as most of the factories and research centers have been shut down most of those people are no longer interested in culture and life in general some of them have other interests a culture is really struggling these days everywhere the old world i'm not talking about the united states. there is a real battle going on between consumerism and spirituality humanitarian by. this is a real war and it's happening in russia as well. i know of course there is no national distribution and it is no wonder that all movies are distributed by one or two western owned companies there is no independent distribution and obviously no national all municipal distribution system like they have in germany for example i

do not see the merging in the near future either because there is no room for me in the system but i think crew should be made since i make most of my films in those documentaries and fiction with government funds i am obliged to present my films to the audience the taxpayer should see where their money goes to them if this is the general situation and it should be changed. it can be changed. but mr sekulow judging by the response your films have attracted in united states say that the intellectual level of the american people is not much higher absolute than that and more than russia. of course there are certain problems over there too but the general cultural level of the population is undoubtedly higher than in russia unfortunately you know as a citizen of russia i am saying this with a heavy heart i think this is one of the principal losses the post perestroika era

inflicted they were mostly losses in the sphere of culture and huge global losses to of course the cultural level in the us is higher and they have alternative ways of self-expression and systems of film distribution. do you think these losses were natural and inevitable when such a huge leap to capital is most performed is the evil of cultural regression unavoidable when society is restructured or not. this is a very important question i think partially inevitable but they're also very much the result of the revolutionary changes which have brought russia to the state it is into day being led and masterminded mainly by humanists intellectuals by scholars who left the field they had belonged to and with drew attention and effort which impaired the development of humanities and arts and lowered the quality of work in these fields the right moment to prevent trouble was missed today we're

trying to catch up with what was lost back then the struggle for landfill where leading today's an example of that we were able to persuade the prime minister that we should not snap decisions on issues of privatization and this is encouraging it shows we should continue winning back what was lost in the past the russian capital isn't can't be trusted that it is an old creature with only a stomach and a rectum. no heart or head whatsoever we just don't see all these organs how can we trust these beasts this semi beast it will mess to kate and i jest everything it gets we have to be more careful culture must be a priority and should always come first culture is the ultimate goal of a nation's existence they can be no other goals but culture development it is not only true for russia it is true for all the other nations europeans are facing same

problems as russia and all their recessions and deadlocks both social and economic can be traced back to the oblivion the cultural sphere has fallen in or at my last question if you call yourself a literature person what one often happens these days is say when my son i ask him every read war and peace and he says i watch the movie have you read i watch the movie turn and see to produce screen version so bad for literature because it steals the wants of converts reducing your view. worse but that's a very important question and it's cinema source sport that's something that touches it's very cool because there is no way there can be serious cinema without literature and the only thing i can see is that the purpose of my work when i make films based on some profound literature sources is to inspire the viewers to go and read the book after they have watched the film thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was alexander supporter of award winning russian

filmmaker joining me from st petersburg and that's all for now from all of us here spotlights we'll be back with you until then stay on russia today and take a. look.

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